I'm making the Roasted Tofu, Fettucine Slim-fredo, and Baked Risotto this weekend. I have a feeling that I am going to have a problem with portion control, but I will do my best. Will report back on levels of nom-iness!

_________________But if one were to tickle Pluto, I suspect that it might very quietly laugh. - pandacookie

55k usd is like 4 cad or whatever equivalent in beavers you use on the island - joshua

The Slim-fredo is so so good! I really liked how quickly it came together (duh, quick and easy, but sometimes they're not, you know?). I made myself eat a small portion, and it actually was really filling, and then I portioned the rest out into small-ish tupperwares, so I won't be tempted to scarf down more than I need.

The Roasted Tofu is just ok. I think it would be better if it called for vegetable broth instead of water, to give it some body. I don't know how that would affect the nutrition information, though. Still, I think I like the basic baked tofu from AFR better, and will just use that one from now on. It has the same basic flavor profile, but is...better.

_________________But if one were to tickle Pluto, I suspect that it might very quietly laugh. - pandacookie

55k usd is like 4 cad or whatever equivalent in beavers you use on the island - joshua

The Baked Risotto was also good, and super easy to put together. I didn't have any marjoram, so I subbed in some thyme, and it was lovely. Just as creamy as risotto on the stovetop, but none of the work!

_________________But if one were to tickle Pluto, I suspect that it might very quietly laugh. - pandacookie

55k usd is like 4 cad or whatever equivalent in beavers you use on the island - joshua

Alright, I want to get something off my chest about this book. You can see from my above posts that I'm liking the results of the recipes! But the portion stuff is making me kind of...mad. I know there is the thing at the top that says 'Makes X Servings', but it would be nice to know the actual serving size. Like, 'XXX calories per 1 cup serving' or whatever. I'm terrible at estimating and fractions, so I'm a little bit up shiitake creek when a recipe says 'Serves 8' and I just have a huge pot of the stuff and then I realize after I've only gotten 5 servings out of it that I was doing it wrong.

Which leads me to the other thing that I am irritated about today! A recipe shouldn't count as 'Low-Cal' just because the portion size is tiny! I keep thinking about the Fettucine Slim-Fredo, which I love, but seriously? Serves 8? Am I the only person who thinks this is redonkulous? I mean, the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of forking oil. Yeah, dividing that up into tiny portions makes them lower calorie and fat, but if I'm still hungry after a 'serving', a meal isn't doing its job right. Same with that risotto. 8 freaking servings. No, it isn't. Which means that while I think I'm being healthy and all that shiz, I'm just kidding myself.

Basically, I'm going to keep cooking out of this book, because YUM, but I'm not going to use it as a weight loss or maintenance tool. I'll stick to AFR for that.

EDIT: yes, I realize that I said that a small portion of the slim-fredo was filling in an above post, but I think I was full of shiitake that day. Perhaps literally, which is the only explanation of how a portion that small would fill me up.

_________________But if one were to tickle Pluto, I suspect that it might very quietly laugh. - pandacookie

55k usd is like 4 cad or whatever equivalent in beavers you use on the island - joshua

Yeah, I like hearty portions to, but I also like to eat healthy. So I really appreciate that AFR delivers on both fronts.

That being sad, I haven't used Quick & Easy much, but thank you for the heads up because when I finally get around to this book I'll keep that in mind when I'm eyeballing the nutritional info and portion sizes (i.e., that the portion sizes aren't that big and I'll probably eat two, double the calories, etc.).

_________________I like my bagels like I like my men - big and covered with earth balance & nooch. - Bunniee

Yeah. Looking at the book right now, the risotto is only 184 calories per serving, so doubling that isn't too big of a deal, but if you (accidentally!) eat 2 servings of the slim-fredo, you'll be at almost 700 calories! Which seems like a lot! I don't know, I don't really count calories, but I do try to be conscious of what I'm putting into my body, and sneaky calories like that sabotage me if I'm not careful.

_________________But if one were to tickle Pluto, I suspect that it might very quietly laugh. - pandacookie

55k usd is like 4 cad or whatever equivalent in beavers you use on the island - joshua

I almost always think that the portion sizes are too small in low calorie recipe books, for obvious reasons.

When I am on a calorie-counting diet, I ALWAY enter all recipes into a caculator, like Spark People, and make slight adjustments to the recipe to save calories. Or at the very least, I can make my serving sizes bigger, but still proportinal. Like, 1 serving is NOT big enough, but 1.5 is, so i make sure to portion that out to avoid over eating

All that being said, I was getting very stressed out and anal about calorie counting, so i stopped and just tried to eat less. Easier said than done.

that was my main complaint about the book!I truthfully - and I'm in a weight-loss mode right now. I'm trying to prove to people who are all "Paleo! AWESOME!" that vegans can lose weight with gluten stuff (shock, i know!).

i basically just eat like 1/2 cup, 1 cup of pasta anything. if its' "extra" calories, so be it. (I don't eat "caloric-ly" i eat when I'm hungry and stop when i'm full. I feel with all the healthy stuff I eat it works out LOL).

I think the portions are decent enough in this book. For the fettuccini slim-fredo I used a ton of broccoli though. The double portion of risotto for around 360 calories was almost more than I could eat.

I do agree that it's nice to get the cup measurement of a serving though. It is very difficult to portion out a heaping bowl into 8 equal servings.

I'm doing WW right now. I just calculate points for the entire recipe before cooking to make sure it's not super crazy, and then divide the recipe up after. This way, even if I have portion control issues, I already know I can fit in all the points.

If a recipe serving is too small, I add a salad or something bulky on the side.

_________________"This is the creepiest post ever if you don't know who Molly is." -Fee"a vegan death match sounds like something where we all end up hugging." -LisaPunk

I had the same problem with calories vs portion size too. I made the Cincinnati chili last night and was like how do I measure out 1/10 of the pot. I ended up weighing it on my kitchen scale.

I am counting calories and I don't know if these recipes are helping. The only way I can even attempt weight loss is by feeling full and a tiny serving that's 400 cal just doesn't fit in to my weight loss plan. Unless I fill up on salad or carrot sticks beforehand :-/

Back to the recipes , like I said I made Cincinnati chili. It was good by I don't think I like Cincinnati chili. The flavor combo is too weird for me!

here is what i do: when i make a new recipe, i log all the ingredients into myfitnesspal.com as a new recipe. and then figure out portions based on what i made. i will measure how many cups i put into everyone's bowl and then portion the rest out in tupperware. then i know the total cups per recipe. i will alter the 'serves x number of people' in mfp based on what i think is a reasonable, and filling, portion size. i will also make a note as to how much each portion size is in mfp so i know for future reference. then i know how many calories, carbs, protein, fat etc are in MY portion sizes and which recipes are indeed truly and reasonably low calorie. i have made a number of things from this book and was happy with the results. i recall really enjoying the chipotle butternut squash soup and the white lasagna.

I made the corn flour cupcakes with raspberry buttercream today. I subbed oil for the shortening (because I'm having an allergy attack and didn't wanna faff with it) and did half oil and half applesauce, so my overall calorie total (with frosting) was several calories less than the recipe. So I was totally justified in eating 2. They're really good, but they kinda make you thirsty.

_________________A pie eating contest is a battle with no losers. - amandabear

The Chipotle Butternut Squash Bisque is so spicy! I think I accidentally dumped in two chipotles...oh well, I like things hot. I also eliminated so much of the oil. I didn't use any to roast the squash (not necessary in my experience, especially when using parchment paper), and only used about 1 tablespoon to sauté the veggies, and could have used less, honestly. I didn't bother to make the toasted seeds, because I didn't think I would like them. I think that butternut squash is sweet enough on its own without adding seeds toasted with brown sugar, but that's just me! My vegetable stock was not low sodium, but I still ended up adding a couple teaspoons of salt. And a dash of garlic powder (even though I doubled the amount of garlic). I know that this seems like I fiddled with it a lot, but I didn't, really! It was tasty!

_________________But if one were to tickle Pluto, I suspect that it might very quietly laugh. - pandacookie

55k usd is like 4 cad or whatever equivalent in beavers you use on the island - joshua

I made the Indian spiced chickpeas the other day to have for lunches, without the rice. I'm not a fan of tomato-based curries at all, but I thought I would give this a try since it sounded so easy. I didn't drain the tomatoes and omitted the broth. It turned out tasting okay, and it was quite filling which is almost more important for me.

i just got this book from the library since i've used all the recipes in afr a million times. i wish i had read this thread first, though, because i got all the stuff for the white lasagna. i guess i'll see if it turns out okay. i'm also planning on making the wet burritos.